Brevet Sergeant Aidan Allt found not guilty of four counts of aggravated assault after ‘failed’ prosecution of Elizabeth police station incident

A South Australian police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing over an alleged assault after a magistrate found he had acted in line with his duties.

A South Australian police officer who stood trial for allegedly assaulting a man in custody has been cleared of any wrongdoing, with a judge finding prosecutors failed to prove his conduct “was not reasonably necessary”.

On Tuesday, Magistrate Roderick Jensen found Brevet Sergeant Aidan Allt not guilty of four counts of aggravated assault related to an incident at the Elizabeth police station on June 19 last year.

It had been alleged Sgt Allt, 35, who stood trial in the Adelaide Magistrates Court last month, had unlawfully assaulted Jordan Ljubicic, 24, when he used OC spray on, and hit, Ljubicic three times with an extendible baton in the police station’s cells.

The court had previously heard the incident occurred after Ljubicic yelled and kicked the door of a padded cell.

Brevet Sergeant Aidan Allt Picture: Supplied

But in his judgement, Magistrate Jensen said the strikes on Ljubicic, who has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and was given a suspended sentence in December last year after police found 173 fake Xanax tablets, $1275 cash and drug dealing related texts on his phone, were “administered in the context of an ongoing incident that needed to be ended by an incremental increase in the nature and extent of the force used”.

“In my view, each of the strikes in counts 2, 3 and 4 were uses of force that were reasonably necessary in the circumstances,” Magistrate Jensen said.

“I do not consider that any of the alleged strikes was a gratuitous act of violence perpetuated by Mr Allt against Mr Ljubicic.

“Rather, they were strikes that were administered in the context of an ongoing incident that needed to be ended by an incremental increase in the nature and extent of the force used.

“I do not consider that the prosecution proved that Mr Allt deliberately struck Mr Ljubicic in the head.”

Magistrate Jensen said prosecutors had not proved that Sgt Allt, who was suspended after an internal police investigation, had lied about the incident in an email sent to another police officer reporting what had happened.

Jordan Ljubicic was handed a suspended sentence in December last year for drug trafficking. Picture: Supplied

“The statements made more likely reflect his best memory of the events drawn from his own perspective,” he said.

“To the extent that the statements are not precisely consistent with the CCTV footage, the simple answer may be that Mr Allt’s recollection, although genuine, was not perfect.”

Magistrate Jensen said prosecutors had “failed to prove that any of the strikes was not reasonably necessary in the circumstances”.

He said Sgt Allt’s actions were “consistent with him trying to bring the incident to a conclusion”.

“Had he not become involved and had he not applied the force that he did, it is possible that greater harm could have come to either or both of Mr Ljubicic and the police officers involved.”

A police spokeswoman said Sgt Allt’s suspension would be lifted following the judgement.